Debate:Political correctness as a form of anti-intellectualism

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Debate.JPG This is a Debate page.
Feel free to add your own spin on the story. Please keep it civil!
Information icon.svg This debate was created by Blaise.


[edit] Proposition

Does anyone else on here see political correctness as a form of anti-intellectualism? It has been my experience that it teaches one to restrict their speech and their thought, and that there's a moral obligation for them to guilt others into doing the same. I believe that the free flow of information and new ideas requires that people be able to speak their minds, and that a good way for people to learn and expand their world view is to sometimes hear new information and viewpoints they don't initially agree with. I'm worried that the more people are told to shut up under the guise of "That is offensive", the fewer critical thinkers we'll have in society.

I believe that people who abuse the word "we" should be stood up against a wall and shot.--MonarchofascistBulgarian M36 Helmet side view.jpgС нами Бог! 15:12, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

This is a fear that only people with privilege really have imo. Most of the time I've seen "politically correct" used as a snarl word, it tends to come from right-wing bigots who hate it when people call them out on their obvious bigotry or conflate being frank or "real" with being a raving racist/sexist/homophobe/xenophobe/etc. BlackProg

There's a few kinds of anti-political correctness advocates: 1. People who just like to be offensive because they're assholes (not intellectual). 2. People who use politically incorrect speech in comedy or humor and don't like being restricted (not intellectual, but not really malevolent either). 3. People who recognize that excessive use of dogmatic dismissals of thought or ideas which may otherwise be offensive can be limiting to scientific, social science, or HFA knowledge (examples: sure, I hate Hitler, but I want to read Mein Kampf in an uncensored form for historical knowledge - ok, there's a fair deal of evidence that some people are inherently gay, but are there some who have also been conditioned that way? - yes, the character in my story is a racist, sorry if that offends you, but I don't feel the need to explain myself to you - are women biologically prone to what otherwise might be termed as "gold-digging" behavior due to the fact that we see male acquisition and gifting of resources to females in multiple species and nearly never vice-versa? - etc.) JRCHReason (talk) 05:01, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

You don't like that I used a contraction, or that I used the term "we" to refer to people in our society?--User:Blaise

Any tool that can be used to limit language is a vector for anti-intellectualism, but let's be honest, the amount of actual intellectual value derived from most political incorrectness is zilch. And keep in mind, that no one forces political correctness on you. It's a way of being polite. You don't come into a college classroom and expect to have a meaningful discussion by disrespecting each other. That fosters an atmosphere of anti-intellectualism much faster. Ikanreed (talk) 16:05, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support